Results 4,001-4,020 of 11,187 for speaker:Colm Burke

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (1 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: 151. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on the proposal for the inclusion of a provision under the rent-a-room scheme to allow pensioners who are medical card holders to avail of the scheme without the possibility of losing their medical card; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59857/22]

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: My understanding, from the State Claims Agency, is that if it settled every claim in the morning, it would mean that from all Departments it would be between €4.2 billion and €4.3 billion, of which €3.8 billion concerns the healthcare sector. In view of the increase of €95 billion for this year, can we get an estimate of a breakdown over the next five years on the...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: We have reviewed the whole issue in terms of industrial accidents, and claims for industrial accidents and car accidents over the past ten years. The one area that we have parked and did nothing about, in fact, is medical negligence and we have let that roll on the way it is going. The biggest problem for the State is in fighting any of these claims, or trying to minimise the claims, there...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: Perhaps we could get a detailed memo from the Department on the current number of claims and the timeframes involved. Such a detailed note might be interesting because a very large amount of money is pending. I will move onto a totally different issue. In the report the Minister gave us, he spoke about additional beds and so on. However, I notice that €1.46 billion was set aside...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: Is there not a problem in that there are people in hospital beds who could be discharged but who are not being discharged in a timely manner? I will give an example. The Taoiseach officially opened Heather House in Cork three or four months ago but it is not now being fully utilised.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: No. To deal with that specific issue, I know of people in Cork University Hospital, CUH, who are looking for a bed. This is not a private nursing home but a HSE facility. Beds in public nursing homes are costing €1,600 per week on average whereas the real cost in a hospital is approximately €8,000. Heather House has empty beds and does not have full staffing in place while...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: In fairness, they are. What I am saying is that there is still a problem in that, when some hospitals right around the country try to find a bed to accommodate a person who needs more than normal nursing home care and a small bit of additional support, the nursing homes are not able to provide that because they do not feel they are getting sufficient funding.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: They are costing us quite a lot of money, however. There is now an underspend of €44 million, which is great from the Department's point of view, but, in real terms, an additional cost is being incurred because people are in hospitals for longer. There needs to be a review of how to get people out of hospital beds and into a step-down facility that can provide the level of care they...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: Would the Minister accept that-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: As we sit here, a large number, 300 to 400 people, are in hospital beds when care could be provided for them in a nursing home setting but that is not happening fast enough. Part of the problem is that nursing homes are not able to provide the support they will require because they feel they are not getting sufficient financial support to do so. I am just asking that this be reviewed in...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: May I come back to the Minister regarding Heather House in Cork? There are 60 additional beds there in a brand new building. There were 50 beds but we added another 60, which are not yet fully occupied. All of the hospitals in Cork are under serious pressure and we cannot get patients out.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: In fairness to the HSE in the south and south west, it has acquired the golf links hotel, the Blarney, where it will provide an extra 50 beds. However, I am concerned that, when we finish the building work in March, we will again leave 50 beds unoccupied for a period of time. We could have anything up to 100 step-down beds available but not being utilised. I am a bit concerned about...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: I accept that.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: 102. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if persons on long-term illness benefit for 12 months or longer will receive the Christmas bonus payment; when the bonus will be paid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59135/22]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Websites (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: 244. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will confirm the timeline for making Government Departments and other public sector body websites digitally accessible to users with disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58785/22]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: 304. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will clarify a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58812/22]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: 326. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if serious consideration will be given to enabling a school (details supplied), which has had a delay in planning and construction, to put prefabs in place in the meantime in order that it can provide ASD classes, taking into account that there are over 20 children in the immediate locality who now have to attend schools outside the area; and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: 427. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the long-term illness benefit is considered a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance and household benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59199/22]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Charitable and Voluntary Organisations (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: 546. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her Department will engage with the charity regulator to establish if an organisation (details supplied) has made an application to be registered as a charity; if no such application has been made, the action that her Department proposes to take in the case in which the organisation is claiming to be a registered charity;...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Policy (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Burke: 605. To ask the Minister for Health the progress that has been made in relation to the expansion of the heel prick test for babies, in view of the fact that up to 40 medical conditions can be identified using this test in some European countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58722/22]